A national nonprofit program launched in 2003 by Oprah chef Art Smith, Common Threads pairs kids from Title 1 schools with fancy pro chefs like Jamie Oliver and James Beard Award-winning Bernstein and semipro-to-impassioned-amateur cooks like me.

Drew, who also grew up in Georgia, had originally been drafted by the Phillies but refused to sign for the amount of money they were offering; instead he played semipro ball for a year, reentered the draft in 1998, and ended going in the first round to the St. Louis Cardinals.